If you are reading this article, it probably hasn’t escaped your notice that the Insurtech Insights conference took place in London a few weeks ago and London was host to ‘Insurtech Week’ 18-22 March – a week long festival of all things insurtech. Insurtech trade association Insurtech UK was very much a part of that, hosting three events designed to address the different dimensions of what Insurtech Week was all about:
Insurtech UK held an international delegations event at Lloyd’s Lab on 19 March to welcome the overseas associations and companies who had come to London to find out more about doing business in the UK. We hosted a range of speakers from the City of London to the Department for Business and Trade to Lloyd’s Lab itself, talking about all the support in place for those incoming companies that want to trade with and ultimately set up a business in the UK.
Insurtech is very much a global enterprise and most companies are trading cross-border. The beauty of innovative tech solutions is that they can work wherever the need arises anywhere in the world – and generally are not subject to the same rules as a regulated insurance entity wishing to enter a new market. As a result, insurtech conferences attract a wide range of nationalities all vying to offer the best solutions to a global array of market issues. That this is beneficial to the UK economy can be clearly seen – it serves to bring cutting-edge technology to our market and enhances competition.
Insurtech UK also held a member pitching event at Aon on the same day to invite members of the association to pitch their solutions to a range of investors, insurers and partners. This event was hugely oversubscribed and we had a long waiting list of members wanting to pitch. Likewise, the event itself, which was held in the huge space of the Aon staff café, was standing room only. We had a strict cut off time with each pitch lasting no more than 5 minutes and an expert judging panel asking probing questions.
If we want the UK to be a global hub for insurance innovation then it’s critical that companies have the opportunity to showcase their solutions to an audience who is interested in investing and partnering with them. Associations like Insurtech UK exist to connect members and help them to reach these crucial audiences. Lloyd’s Lab also took the opportunity afforded by Insurtech Week to host its own ‘demo day’, showcasing the innovative cohort of companies which had participated in its accelerator programme. Again, these opportunities are key to making the UK such a dynamic market for insurance.
Finally, Insurtech UK hosted a networking reception at the Insurtech Insights conference itself, which was held in the O2 Inter-Continental Hotel. With a theme of Espresso Martinis, it was completely oversubscribed and we had to turn people away at the door. So what’s so special about another networking event at a conference? The point is that after years after lockdown, Zoom meetings and empty offices still loom large in the UK insurance market.
What the response to this networking event (and others during Insurtech Week) demonstrates, is that people crave face-to-face contact and connections – there is literally a thirst for networking drinks (no pun intended)! Despite all the tech innovations, insurance – and insurtech for that matter – is still a people business and there is a strong need for in-person interaction to collaborate, share ideas, and create new partnerships.
The facilitation of this kind of networking event is vitally important for the success of the market, and insurtech conferences – by gathering all the relevant people all in one place at the same time – does this extremely well.
Insurtech conferences like Insurtech Insights in London - with the support of local associations such as Insurtech UK - are more than just hype. They serve a genuine market purpose and provide tangible benefit to the economy, helping to position the UK as a global leader in insurance innovation.
